The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is examining how autonomous artificial intelligence could change derivatives markets. Chairman Mike Selig raised questions Wednesday about who oversees software agents that execute trades.
Speaking at an agency forum, Selig linked advances in AI to crypto and modern financial infrastructure. He said the combination could broaden access to advanced market tools, improve risk management for businesses and create new economic activity. The CFTC has also focused on crypto and prediction markets.
Yet the shift also poses legal and practical issues. Software can assess market signals and place orders on a user's behalf. For the CFTC, that raises questions about registration, responsibility and how authorities identify the people behind an agent's actions.
At the event, Selig urged the use of "superintelligence," or SI, instead of "artificial intelligence." President Donald Trump has also pushed for that terminology. Selig argued that calling the technology artificial fails to reflect its real-world impact. Panelists adopted SI during the forum, although their companies and public channels still use AI elsewhere.
Selig compared its reach to the printing press, steam engine and internet. He said it could accelerate the long shift toward automated trading. He also said agency employees already use AI extensively in their work supervising derivatives markets.
Who should bear legal responsibility when an autonomous trading agent acts outside a user's instructions? Selig raised that issue alongside the possibility that software developers might face registration requirements when their agents identify opportunities and execute transactions.
Another concern involves identifying whose interests an agent represents. Selig floated the idea of "know-your-agent" checks, or KYA, as a potential counterpart to know-your-customer rules. He did not announce a specific standard or proposal.
Selig pointed to the CFTC's experience with cryptocurrency as a way to approach those problems. Developers who published code or created market interfaces previously faced uncertainty about whether laws for financial intermediaries applied to their work.
Under his leadership, Selig said, the agency has sought clearer guidance on such issues. He presented that work as relevant to cases involving AI agents, which could operate through software without resembling traditional brokers.
In an example, Selig described a refrigerator that pays for groceries using proceeds from a memecoin it launches or ether it stakes. The scenario illustrated how automated systems and crypto could intersect in everyday transactions.
His broader agenda also includes prediction markets, which the CFTC has added to its discussions on emerging technology. The Wednesday gathering placed AI alongside those other developing areas rather than treating it as a separate topic.
Read More: Mike Selig Takes Over CFTC as Congress Weighs Crypto Powers
Brett Harrison, chief executive of AI derivatives exchange company Architect, spoke first on the industry panel. Harrison previously led FTX's U.S. arm before the broader cryptocurrency exchange collapsed in a fraud scandal.
He said consumer tools such as Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini can turn unstructured material, including news reports, into inputs for market decisions. That ability, he argued, makes analysis less dependent on large firms' resources.
According to Harrison, major institutions can expand their research through these systems, while smaller firms gain access to tools once harder to build. He described software that writes market algorithms, gathers data and produces estimates of fair value.
Those capabilities have encouraged more retail and institutional participants to rely on automated systems for derivatives transactions, Harrison said. Some operate as black boxes, limiting visibility into how their programs reach a particular result.
Meanwhile, the CFTC announced Wednesday that it will hold a roundtable on around-the-clock trading on December 15. The Securities and Exchange Commission held a similar discussion the previous month. The meeting extends the CFTC's roundtables on emerging market issues.
Selig's forum raised questions about agent registration, liability, and identity checks as AI tools enter derivatives markets. He pointed to earlier crypto oversight challenges for possible guidance. Architect Brett Harrison also described broader access to automated analysis, while the CFTC set December 15 for a roundtable on continuous trading.